Thursday, December 22, 2011

Winter Solstice

One of my favorite times of year. Imperceptibly ~ the days will now start to lengthen.

The dark of Winter makes people celebrate light in other ways--candles, fires, lights. Somehow, someway we need our spirits lifted from the vespers of Midwinter's Eve.

Today most people maybe don't realize the importance of the Winter Solstice. We, for the most part, don't really have to worry about not having enough food, or warmth to make it through the next few months. But, for some reason this day still resonates with me.. maybe it's the gardener inside. ;) I get to look out at the sleeping garden, planning it's design for next year. Seed catalogs will start coming in any day ~ perfect for thumbing through, picking out new varieties to try. My garden clothes are clean for days at a time. It's a period of rest and reflection. Solstice actually means 'Sun stands still'. So what better time of year to do just that.

Amid the hustle and bustle of these last few days before Christmas ~ I hope you can take a moment and pause to catch your breath.

~Good Things~

SW Poultry

My friend Cindy's webpage.. excellent poultry health and vaccine issues are addressed, be sure to read the links on each one. Plus, Cindy writes with a great sense of humor and it's just plain fun to read her stuff. ;) SW POULTRY

SICK CHICKEN?

WADDL will tell you WHY--or will do so to the best of their ability.
If you are showing, raising, breeding and selling poultry and one of your flock dies for any unexpected reason, it is very important to find out why. You do not want to expose other poultry to a potentially contagious disease.
Plus.. they answer a million questions with the patience of saints. AVIAN HEALTH & FOOD SAFETY

--->YOU MUST WATCH THIS<---

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Also... If you haven't watched Food, Inc -- I highly recommend it. We need to be making better decisions in our food choices!

~*~DID YOU KNOW~*~

Chickens will begin their first molt at about 18 months of age... they will gradually lose feathers while replacing the lost feathers with beautiful new feathers. During this time they will stop producing eggs and focus all their energy into 're-feathering'. A molt generally takes 2-4 months and will occur about every 18 months. { Usually when you have an important show coming up.... ;) }

So don't panic when you see a pile of feathers and your chickens aren't laying... it's probably their molt-time.

~*~DID YOU KNOW~*~

People keep saying 'my hen is broody ... what on earth does that mean??'

Broody means that a hen is wanting to sit on eggs to hatch them. She will have laid enough eggs to build a clutch and will be ready to sit on the nest for the next 21 days. Some chickens, like Silkies, don't even need to have an egg under them to go broody~they have such a strong instinct to sit on a nest. People use them for hatching eggs from other chickens. If you have been gathering your eggs from under your broody hen because you want to eat them, she will sometimes just sit on the empty nest until she is no longer broody. She will not lay eggs during this time. People try to "bust a broody" by putting them in a pen or a hutch to separate them from the nest. I don't usually worry about it, but I do make sure they are eating enough..they don't come off the nest but maybe once or twice to eat and go potty. The brood WILL end eventually. :)

~*~DID YOU KNOW~*~

A CLEAN duck is an OILY duck, an OILY duck is a WARM duck! In the process of preening, a duck will smooth protective oils over their feathers which help keep them warm and keep their skin dry. It is important to provide some sort of water source for dunking even during cold weather. Our ducks LOVE 'fowl' *wink* weather! It is fun to watch them scoot and dip on the snow or happily flap their wings in a down pour of rain.